Road Planners Call For Changes ?

December 16, 1985|By Fred Lowery, Staff writer

Road planners say the volume of traffic already on major roads in central Palm Beach County, along with the projected growth in those numbers, is evidence enough that major changes in the road system will have to be made.

Based on figures compiled for 1984 by the now-defunct Area Planning Board, Okeechobee Boulevard shows an annual average of more than 40,000 vehicles per day just west of I-95 and just shy of 41,000 per day just east of the interstate.

A consultant study, based on county and Metropolitan Planning Organization figures, predicts eventual counts of 51,000 per day west of I-95 and 37,000 per day east of I-95 with an east-west expressway in place from Florida`s Turnpike to downtown West Palm Beach.

On Southern Boulevard, the 1984 average was nearly 38,000 vehicles per day west of I-95 and 27,500 east of I-95.

Consultant projections predict that the count will increase to 52,000 on the west side of I-95, but the count will decrease slightly, to 27,000, east of I- 95.

Belvedere Road, in the 1984 counts, averages 31,600 west of I-95 and 25,700 east of the interstate.

The consultant study shows projected daily counts of 35,000 on the west side and 23,000 on the east side.

The expressway, meanwhile, would carry an estimated 60,000 vehicles per day west of a new I-95 interchange and 51,000 east of I-95 on a downtown connector.

Further west, consultant projections show the expressway carrying 85,000 vehicles per day between the turnpike and Military Trail, and 75,000 per day between Military Trail and Congress Avenue.

A proposed connector, already in plans for Palm Beach International Airport, between I-95 and PBIA is projected to carry an estimated 70,000 vehicles per day.

On I-95, which currently shows average traffic counts of 104,317 vehicles per day south of Southern Boulevard and 83,621 north of Okeechobee Boulevard, consultants project eventual counts of 145,600 south of Southern and nearly 120,000 north of Okeechobee.